Feeding Event Brings “Hope” to Auburn Gresham

Posted on 21. Dec, 2011 by citizen in South End

The line for a free meal wrapped around the building of BJ’s Market & Bakery restaurant and extended down the street Dec. 13 as St. Sabina church and its sponsors hosted Operation Hope. The event provided a free hot meal and some encouragement.

This was the second annual year for the community outreach event where 2,000 people received a meal from BJ’s Market, located on the corner of 79th Street and Racine. Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina, located down the street from the restaurant, said the event is an example of what can be done in a community when its business, civic and faith leaders come together.

Lin Hobiba, 37, was one of the first in line to be fed.

“I’m hungry, it’s BJs so great food. You can’t beat that,” he said.

Starting at 3 p.m. Pfleger was inside the restaurant greeting people from off the street as they streamed through and received a container pre-packed with chicken or ham, greens, macaroni & cheese and a corn muffin. For the outspoken South Side Catholic priest, the event was not only about food, but also about letting those struggling to survive — especially struggling to eat — know that they are not forgotten.

“(Poor people) feel forgotten, they feel abandoned, feel like they’re the disposable society. And we have to let poor people know that we have not forgotten them, they are not invisible to us. There’s more than enough food and there’s more than enough housing, we’ve just got to share,” Pfleger told the Chicago Citizen.

The Auburn Gresham community where the church and restaurant are located is one identified at the end of the summer in a study by the Greater Chicago Food Depository as having a high rate of food insecurity. Nearly a quarter (24.6 percent) of the community’s residents does not know from where or when they will receive their next meal on a daily basis, according to the report.

The report ties the community’s 11.4 percent unemployment and 26.4 percent poverty rates to the food insecurity there. Pfleger said he knows firsthand that having enough food is an issue in Auburn Gresham, and in many other communities. He said that St. Sabina’s food pantry had previously been providing food to some 2,000 people. Now, he said, the number has exploded to over 4,000.

“Not only has the face of hunger changed, it’s grown and unfortunately we as a country have allowed it to grow. I’ve never seen more poverty, in my 36 years in this community, as I do right now,” Pfleger said at the BJ’s Market event.

St. Sabina received support from Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) and company representatives were on hand passing out meals. WVON-AM/1690 was also an event sponsor and had representatives at BJ’s.

BJ’s owner John Meyer assisted in passing out meals. He told the Chicago Citizen that providing the food for this event, even as his business suffers its own blows due to the tumultuous economy, was the least he could do.

“It’s great to give back to the community. Giving out 2,000 meals, it really feels good that you could do that,” Meyer said. “Everybody’s struggling. We’re not doing as well as we were years ago, but we’re doing well enough that we can give back.”

Latasha Thomas, alderman of the 17th Ward where the restaurant and church are located, was at BJ’s Market for Operation Hope.

She acknowledged that in her ward and around the nation, the face of hunger has changed with the country’s economic hardship. She said the businesses, houses of worship and others in her ward, often band together to aid the poor and those in the middle-class who are struggling.

“We are all trying to do things for the community, nothing selfish about it. We just want to help our people,” Thomas said. “It’s a lot of people that you’re surprised to see in here” needing a meal.

Pam Dyson was in line “to fill the hunger in her belly.” She had hoped to get some barbecue chicken, but said she was simply grateful to receive a meal.

“I like this program because they do try to look out, and help feed people,” she said. This year was her second time participating in Operation Hope.

Pfleger added that despite so many people being hungry, being able to eat should not be an issue.

“We have enough (food) if we just share,” he said.

By Rhonda Gillespie